Lamp-extinguisher.



Nov 783,825. Y PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905.

F. S. DILWOETH. LAMP EXTINGUISHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1904:.

ATTORNEYS an. teases.

TTS

Patented February 28, 1905.

FREDERICK SHIRLEY lHIIWCRTI-l, OF CHICAGO, lLLlNOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,825, dated February 28, 1905.

Application filed May 14,1904. Serial No- 207,945.

To It whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Fnrmnnlox SHIRLE Y' DIL- won'rn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cool; and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Lamp-Extinguisher, of which the :followingisa full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to lamp-extinguishers; and the principal object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device of this character which will be automatically operative whenever the lamp to which the device is applied is given a considerable tilt in any direction.

A further object of the invention is to improve the construction of lamp-extinguishers by providing a very inexpensive and durable device which will not interfere in any way with the light-giving capacity of the lamp to which itis applied and which will always operate with certainty whenever the lamp is given a sufh'cient tilt in any direction to render the lamp liable to explode or to cause a conflagration by the spilling of the oil contained therein.

With the objects above stated and others of minor character in view, as will hereinafter 1 appear, the invention consists in the improved lamp-extinguisher hereinafter fully described as one form of embodiment of the invention, it being understood that various changes in the minor structural details may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, 'forminga part of this speciliciiition, in which similar characters of reference indicate correspomling parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of a lamp-burner provided with an extinguisher constructed in accord with this invention, the burner being shown in normal position and with the members of the extinguisher inoperative. Fig. 2 is a view principally in side elevation, but partly in section, showing the burner tilted to one side and showing the mode of operation of the extinguisher. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the burner on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings the extinguisher is shown as forming a part of a lamp-burner; but it is to be understood that the extinguisher may be made separate from a burner and applied thereto beneath the ordinary shell or cover, which covers the perforated plate at the bottom of the burner and guides the air upward and into contact with the wick where it emerges from the wick-tube.

Referring to the d rawi ngs by reference characters, L designates the oil-reservoir of an ordinary lamp, and .B designates in a gei'ieral way the burner provided on the lamp. This burner is provided with an ordinary perforated base-plate 1, through which air is admitted to maintain combustion and a wick-tube E2 of the usual type rises above the base-plate l. to guide the wick 3 upward. At the sides of the wick-tube there are mounted upon the baseplate 1 of the burner and secured thereto in any suitable manner two casing-sections or boxes 4, each of which is preferably formed with a perforated top, as shown, and has the side walls thereof disposed at oblique angles to the wick-tube for reasons that will hereinafter appear. in each of the boxes sea false bottom or floor 5 is provided, which slopes upward from the outside of the box toward the wick-tube. 'lhese floors or false bottoms 5 are preferably perforated to facilitate the passage of air therethrough, and each affords support to a ball which is freely movable within the box or casing l, which covers the false bottom 5. The balls are pre'fembly of slightly d ifferent sizes, as shown, and the smaller is designated (:3, while the larger is deshgnal ed 7. These balls (5 and T are freely movable within the casing-sections or boxes 4-. and each is adapted to serve as an actuator for a pivoted extinguisher member mounted at the inner side of each of the boxes or casing-sections t. The smaller ball (3 is adapted to serve as an actuator for an extinguisher member 8, while the larger ball 7 is adapted to actuate a somewhat larger extinguisher member 9. The two extinguisher members are made of two slightly different sizes, so that the larger member 9 may overlap the smaller member 8 when both are tilted inward upon their pivots, as shown in Fig. 2. To insure the action of the balls 6 and 7 upon the extinguisher members. as soon 1 as the lamp is given a tilt of sufficient magnitude to endanger the safety of the lamp a flange 3 10 is provided upon the outer side of each of the extinguisher members just above its pivot.

The flanges 10 extend obliquely upward and outward and afford surfaces against which the made to serve as means for transmitting the energy of the balls 6 and 7 to the extinguisher members and they also serve to prevent the escape of the balls from the boxes or casingsections 4. The boxes or casing-sections 4 do not have the tops thereof extended into contact with the extinguisher members when in operative position, as it is obvious that some space must be provided to permit the lateral swing of the extinguisher members to a sufficient extent to prevent interference with the flame of the lamp, as shown in Fig. 1. Owing to this construction of the boxes or casingsections 4, the balls 6 and 7 would, if no means were provided for preventing it, escape from the side boxes or casing-sections whenever the lamp was tilted to a considerable extent. The

flanges 1O practically close the openings between the extinguisher members 8 and 9 and the boxes or casing-sections 4: when the extinguisher members are swung into operative position, as will be readily seen upon inspection of Fig. 2.

As the side walls of the boxes or casingsections 4 are disposed at oblique angles to the wick-tube 2 of the burner, the movement of the lamp in any direction will cause one or the other of the balls 6 and 7 to roll into contact with the flange 10 of the adjacent extinguisher member and throw the extinguisher member into operation. The angles at which the sides of the boxes or casing-sections 4 are disposed with reference to the wick-tu be are such that the action of the balls is brought about as promptly when the lamp is tilted in one direction as in another, and the entire extinguisher structure is so arranged that whenever the lamp is given such a tilt as to make an explosion or conflagration probable one or the other of the balls will engage with its extinguisher member and throw the extinguisher member into position to extinguish the lamp. The action of the extinguisher members is precisely the same as that of other similar members, each of the members being provided with a cap or hood 11, which is brought over the wick 3 of the lamp whenever the extinguisher member is engaged by its actuating-ball.

From the foregoing description of the construction and operation of the improved lam pextinguisher it will be clearly seen that when a lampis provided with an extinguisher constructed in accord with the present invention it is practically impossible for the lamp to be overturned and to cause a conflagration by the ignition of the oil contained therein. It is even impossible for the lamp to be tilted sufticiently to cause any of the oil in the reservoir to escape without the extinguishment of the lamp-flame. \Vhenever the lamp is tilted as much as thirty degrees in any direction, one of the balls inclosed in the casing-sections will roll along the inclined false bottom or floor upon which it rests and engage with the adjacent extinguisher member to throw it over toward the wick-tube and bring the hood of the extinguisher member into position above the wick, thereby extinguishing the lamp before the oil contained in the reservoir of the lamp has an opportunity to escape.

It will be readily seen that while the extinguisher above described is so constructed that it will operate with perfect reliability whenever need for its operation arises the boxes of the extinguisher are very small and they cannot interfere in any way with the lightgiving capacity of the lamp, the two extinguisher members are entirely out of the way when in inoperative position, and they do not rise high enough to cut off any of the light of the lamp-flame, the lower portion of which is ordinarily non-luminous and is usually inclosed in ordinary lamp-burners.

Having thus described my invention. 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination in a lamp-extinguisher, of a pair of oppositely-arranged pivoted extinguisher members, an inclined floor arranged at the outerside of each extinguisher member and sloping outwardly and downwardly therefrom, a ball supported upon each of said inclined floors, and a casing having inclined sides converging outwardly from the sides of each extinguisher member for guiding the balls into engagement with their respective extinguisher members.

2. The combination in a lamp-extinguisher, of a pivoted extinguisher member, an inclined floor arranged outside of the extinguisher member and sloping outwardly and downwardl y therefrom, a casing covering said floor and having inclined sides converging outwardly from the extinguisher member, and a ball within said casing and resting on said inclined floor.

3. The combination in a lamp-extinguisher, of a pivoted extinguisher member, a floor sloping outwardly and downwardly from said extinguisher member, a casing above said floor against which said extinguisher member rests when in inoperative position, a freelymovable member within said casing and supported upon said inclined floor, and. a flange extending obliquely upward and outward from said extinguisher member and adapted for engagement by said freely-movable memher.

4. The combination in a lamp-extinguisher,

of a pair of oppositely-arranged pivoted extinguishing members adapted to overlap above the lamp-wicl an inclined floor at the outer side of each of said extinguishing members, said floors inclining downwardly and out- \vardly from said members, a casing covering said floors and having inclined sides converging outwardly from the extinguisher members, and balls within said casing and resting on said inclined floors.

5. The combination in a lamp-extinguisher, of an extinguisher member pivoted at its lower end, at the side of the wick-tube and extending upwardly above said tube and provided with an outwardly-extending flange above its pivot, an inclined floor arranged outside the extinguisher member and sloping outwardly and downwardly therefrom, a casing having a portion covering said floor with a space intervening between the inner edge of said cover and the extinguisher member, said space atfording room for the lateral outward swing of said member, and a ball within said casing and adapted to engage said outwardly-extending flange to operate the extinguisher member, said flange having its upper end slightly below the opening in the cover and serving to close the same to prevent the escape of the ball when the extinguisher is operated. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.-

FREDERICK SHIRLEY lllhWOlt'lll. Witnesses:

H. S. GEMMiLL, N. N. GEMMILL. 

